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Ben Bledsoe
Snellville, Georgia, U.S. |Died = |Origin = Orlando, Florida, U.S. Los Angeles, California, U.S. |Instruments = Singing, guitar, piano, drums |Genre = Pop, rock |Occupation = Singer-songwriter |Years_active = 1999–present |Label = Transcontinental (2000–04; Natural) 44th Floor Records (2004–''present''; solo) }} Benjamin Frederick "Ben" Bledsoe (born May 11, 1982; Snellville, Georgia) is an American pop singer formerly of the boy band Natural. He is currently a solo singer and actor living in Los Angeles, California. Early life Ben Bledsoe spent most of his young life performing. As a child living in California he was a child model and also acted in several commercials throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. In his teen years his parents moved him to Longwood, Florida, a suburb of Orlando, where he met future band mate Marc Terenzi. At the age of 16 he helped formed the band Natural with fellow members Patrick King, Michael Johnson, and later Michael 'J' Horn.Biography on Ben Bledsoe's official website Natural After his move to Florida, Ben did whatever acting was available to him in Orlando. After meeting Marc Terenzi, Ben decided to change careers and start a band. He had always sung and played multiple instruments such as the bass and saxophone, but had never been interested in music as a career until he really found some musicians he clicked with. The band was a mix between rock and pop. Although were a full band when performing live, they also would perform a cappella renditions at local venues as an easier way to promote themselves. The idea worked; their first show at the House of Blues in Orlando completely sold out. After that success they met with a top of his game pop producer named Veit Renn who had written and produced songs for other acts such as the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and Britney Spears. He signed them immediately and started recording new music right away. Natural obtained a huge local following in Orlando but wanted to stretch out. So Veit, being German, decided to send them on a promotional tour of Germany. This was the first major step to their success. One day as they rehearsed at Transcon Studios in Orlando, boy band svengali Lou Pearlman noticed them and liked their act. A stroke of luck would happen when Lou happened to see them perform at the German Festival "Popkomm" in Cologne. He was there promoting another act, and something in him knew he needed this act when he saw the crowd of almost 150,000 fans going crazy for Natural. Very soon after they were signed with Transcontinental Records. Lou Pearlman spared no expense and promoted the guys first single with Claire's and a tour with the Monkees, traveling by private jet and tour bus. The first single "Put Your Arms Around Me" became RIAA-certified Gold, and reached the Billboard Sales Chart Position of #8. Soon thereafter, Natural was signed as the top project of BMG International based in Munich. The band immediately started touring in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, England, Scotland, Italy, Spain, France, and Sweden to conquer little girl's hearts. They had much success with such hits as "Put Your Arms Around Me", "Will It Ever", "Runaway", "Let Me Just Fly", "What If", and the Sarah Connor number-one hit "Just One Last Dance", on which they were featured. In the summer of 2003, Marc Terenzi's girlfriend Sarah Connor became pregnant. Lou Pearlman wasn't happy with the news and wanted Marc kicked out of Natural and replaced with someone new. Ben and the other members (except Patrick King) were not thrilled with this and decided to break the band up. They finished the tour and Ben was left to a new phase in his career. The life of an Insomniac Natural finished their last tour in Europe and Asia in September 2004. Ben, being one of the main songwriters in the band, started writing new music right away with band members Marc Terenzi and Michael Johnson. After a few months, Ben realized that if he wanted to write music professionally, he'd have to be able to play more than just the bass and saxophone. So he "locked himself" in his studio for three months and taught himself guitar and piano. His style of playing was unique, and he started writing songs that were extremely close to him (some concerning a recent break-up) and wanted to start recording what was to be his new solo album. Ben's new songs were a new brand of pop and rock: he wrote all of the songs himself, and played the guitar and piano (as well as other instruments) in most of the recordings and performances. Soon Ben had enough songs for a CD which he named An Insomniac's Guide to a Lonely Heart due to his lack of sleep while creating the album, and the first song he wrote for it, titled "Lonely Heart". He began touring in Florida and New York and continued with Seventeen magazine's national Rock your Prom tour in 2005, Radio Disney Tours in the U.S., and multiple tours in Europe, including Hard Rock Cafe's "Rocktober" tour — a charity tour to raise money for breast cancer research. He released An Insomniac's Guide to a Lonely Heart on his own record label 44th Floor Records. Although he claims to have not expected much from the release, it flew to the top of the charts everywhere he released it. It was #1 on Amazon.com for exports to Germany, and was in the top 5% of sales overall. It was simultaneously #1 and #2 on Awarestore.com beating out Aware's own artists such as John Mayer, Five for Fighting, and Wheatus. The first single release was the tongue and cheek song "Boyfriend". He currently is working on new music in L.A. with top songwriter/producer, Eddie Galan of Mach 1 Music, who previously worked on High School Musical and the ''Hannah Montana'' soundtrack). Acting As a child Ben acted in several commercials and TV shows, including guest starring on the Nickelodeon TV series The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo in 1997. While in Natural, he decided put acting on hold and focus completely on music. After the release of his solo album Ben sought to do more acting. He has also been called to do some Broadway shows such as Hairspray and Cry-Baby. He has been studying with The Groundlings and the Lesley Kahn School of Acting and recently guest starred on an episode of the TV show House. Ben also guest starred in the pilot episode of the TV show Glee Discography References External links * Official website * * * Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American male models Category:American male singers Category:American pop singers Category:American singers Category:American voice actors Category:Musicians from California Category:Musicians from Florida Category:Actors from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:Natural (band) members